Bacterial virulence: can we draw the line?

Bacterial virulence: can we draw the line?

The molecular approach to microbial pathogenesis has resulted in an impressive amount of data on bacterial virulence genes. Bacterial genome sequences rapidly add candidate virulence genes to electronic databases. The interpretation of this overwhelming information is obscured because every gene involved in pathogenicity is called a virulence gene, regardless of its function in the complex proc...

How Can We Draw the Line between Clinical Care and Medical Research

A Policy Forum published in this month's PLoS Medicine highlights an issue that the PLoS Medicine editors have often debated: when research takes place within the context of clinical care, how can we distinguish which activities constitute care, and which research? The World Medical Association Code of Medical Ethics declares that a physician must always " act in the patient's best interest whe...

Treating prostate cancer: where do we draw the line?

The article by Drs. Lepor and Donin is a provocative look at a timely topic in urologic oncology.[1] There is little debate among experts in the field that we are overtreating prostate cancer at the current time. Studies are ongoing to evaluate active surveillance as an option for low-risk tumors, even in men with very long life expectancies. However, in this review, the authors have overreache...

Replacement of the ascending aorta in bicuspid aortic valve disease: where do we draw the line?

Procedural sedation in the emergency department: where do we draw the line?

Mary Jagim is Consultant, Senior Health Care Analyst, E Suite Consulting, Fargo, ND. For correspondence, write: Mary Jagim, RN, BSN, CEN, FAEN, 6030 23rd Street South, Fargo, ND 58104; E-mail: [email protected]. J Emerg Nurs 2007;33:488-91. 0099-1767/$32.00 Copyright n 2007 by the Emergency Nurses Association. doi: 10.1016/j.jen.2007.06.012 A male patient presents to triage in severe pain an...